What Is ADD?

The word ADD is being used more and more often today – and not just in reference to children anymore.

Doctors are seeing more and more cases of both adults and
children being diagnosed with ADD. But not many people know exactly what ADD is.

ADD and ADHD – which are considered by many to be basically the same thing – are
what are known as “neurobehavioral developmental diseases.” It affects a large
portion of the world’s children – anywhere from 3 to 5 percent of them – but ADD
is also diagnosed in adults as well. Some children who are diagnosed with ADD in
early childhood carry the disorder into adulthood as well.

Nobody is quite sure exactly what causes ADD; while some likely causes that
contribute to ADD have been identified there is no specific cause pinpointed.
And while there are treatments for it, there are no cures for it either. People
who have ADD simply have to cope with the disorder.

What Are The Symptoms Of ADD?

The symptoms of ADD are less concrete than the symptoms of other neurological
disorders. In fact, some doctors even dispute that it is a real disorder at all.
It’s even hard to diagnose in children because the symptoms can be characterized
as normal childhood traits.

As the name implies, people with this have a problem with attentiveness. While
some people have days they just can’t concentrate, people with it struggle with
it every single day. They become very easily distracted all the time. They are
often caught day-dreaming. They have a very hard time completing daily tasks
like work or school assignments. And the worst part is, most of them don’t even
realize that they’re doing it – they drift off, not paying attention, and jolt
back realizing they’d let themselves get distracted again.

They are also usually very, very impulsive. They have a hard time thinking
before they do something. They often jump from one task to another. This
inattentiveness and impulsiveness even affects their daily relationships. They
have a very hard time sitting still and listening attentively to others so they
can’t really have good conversations with friends. They often blurt out what’s
on their mind without thinking and end up either interrupting someone or
accidentally offending them.

But what makes these things a disorder instead of things that happen to people
in everyday life? Doctors determine that ADD is present when these symptoms
persist for an extended period of time. Luckily there are behavioral treatments
available to make it more manageable.

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